Only in Boston can the

Only in Boston can the release and waiver claim of a utility infielder generate story after story. Yeah, he’s a local kid. But how many stories can we crank out on Lou Merloni? Well, let’s see, it is a slow news day… Lenny Megliola says the move to San Diego could finally give Lou a chance to shine. Before Lou left, Bob Hohler says Theo Epstein gave him some good places to go get a beer in San Diego. Jeff Horrigan says Lou is all fired up to go the National League and get a chance to play more. Sean McAdam says cult hero Lou will always have a part of himself here in Boston, and Theo promised him a spot for him to come back to when his playing days are over. Art Davidson writes that Lou appreciated how all of this was handled. David Heuschkel says Lou can no longer say the Red Sox are making a mockery of his career, and retells the story of Lou and Ben Affleck’s little spat last summer. Steve Buckley says that getting away from his hometown will help out Lou. Gotta shell out to read that one though. So there’s seven stories, not counting the papers that haven’t come out online yet. Elsewhere in Red Sox news, if you want to your five bucks, you can read Michael Gee tell you how the Red Sox plan to be luckier this season. Alex Speier talks to Todd Walker about his fielding, and the prospect of playing in Boston. Yesterday’s spring training loss to the Pirates gave reliever Steve Woodard, a bubble candidate to make the team, a chance to shine. McAdam’s notebook has more. Woodard is also the subject of Hohler’s notebook. Horrigan’s notebook looks at Woodard and a few other bullpen candidates.

Rosevelt Colvin spoke to the Boston media yesterday. You can watch part of the session on Patriots Video News. Michael Smith has a report from the Colvin press conference, with Colvin talking about how good a fit this situation seemed for him. He did his homework in asking around about the situation here. Christopher Price says Colvin has shown up ready to go to work. Tom Curran’s latest Patriots Mailbag is finally up on the web.Kevin Mannix reports from the owners meetings in Phoenix, In a media session, Bill Belichick addressed the safety situation, stressing they can have all three on the team at once. He also touches on Colvin, and the running back situation. Alan Greenberg touches on Tebucky, noting that Jones is not participating in the offseason workouts because he doesn’t want to risk injury, knowing that the Patriots are trying to trade him. Ron Borges has more on negotiations between the Saints and Patriots on Tebucky Jones. A few of you have written in, feeling that Borges has been correct in claiming the Patriots would have been the seventh playoff team, and that I’m wrong. Perhaps I’ll put in more detail later, but in boils down to a rule that “resets” the tiebreakers after the first wildcard team is determined. Once Cleveland made it in by virtue of a better conference record than the other two teams, Denver and New England would have started the tie breakers all over again, and the first tiebreaker is head-to-head, which the Broncos win because of a victory over the Patriots last year. That’s as simple as I can put it.

Shira Springer looks at the Celtics disastrous road trip and what the Celtics need to do to get back on track. Mark Murphy says that the Celtics better get their act together, this is no time to be slumping. Carolyn Thornton writes that the Celtics have no time to dwell on these losses. Christopher Price looks at the missing Tonys. Steve Bulpett looks at Tony Battie and his ailing knee.

Stephen Harris says many of the Bruins are very glad to no longer be playing for Ftorek. Kevin Paul Dupont says the team has already raised their level of play, and are a more physical squad as well. Harris’ notebook looks at Jeff Hackett’s troublesome finger.

Bob Ryan wants to give props to the Frozen Four…the other form of March Madness, especially as it relates to the Harvard team.